BEYOND THE EDGE
by NekoXyN
Summary: A continuation of Iron and Starlight; following the extra-dimensional Avenger, Jiru Star. What happens after New York?
1. Chapter 1

_Vacation:_

Sand, surf, sun, sea, shells, salt and lotion; all the smells and sights of the five-star Tahiti beach connected to the young woman's soul on a special level.

The sand, the color of tan perfection, was fine-grained and soft to the touch – bliss on the toes. The surf; forever coming in and out was music to her ears, in this dimension and all dimensions. Sunshine steadily shone down from the sky; oddly nine minutes old since coming from the source. Yes, in this dimension, the sun was further away than her home dimension; science had told her that much; and the thought was staggeringly creepy. The sea, the body of water that always soothed her soul forever and anywhere, was there; ten feet away and receding for the low tide. The shells on the beach, the dots and splashes of whites, golds, blacks, purples, pinks and oranges were spectacular; the woman always loved shells and since coming to this remote paradise hideaway, had accrued quite the collection; at least five months' worth.

The salt, the blessed relaxing aroma of sea salt was heaven to her nose and soul; even after living near the beach for five months, it still was such an addiction. All the scents of the ocean evoked a sense of primal peace throughout her being.

Of course, a person had to be really stupid to sit under such a beautiful sun without protection, so the smell of suntan lotion was thoroughly mixed with the scents of the beach. Having just put on a new layer of protection; the young woman lounging on the blue-padded recliner shifted her body to a new position, so the sun's rays could evenly tan her skin. Now, as the woman thought about it, the compulsion to grab for her swimsuit and stick in on flared again – well, at least she wore the upper part of her two-piece suit. It would be crude to be completely in the buff during the computer-based conference call.

Turning her face away from the sun – the high-end sunglasses gleamed in the light, but darkened the light enough so she could see – towards the fifty-inch computer screen, lagoon green eyes watched as the brainiac on the other end moved randomly about his place.

"Hello, Earth to Reed, Earth to Reed…" Her light, drowsy voice drifted out of her mouth; warbling in humor as the man on the screen reined in his extended head to look back at the screen, his eyes momentarily confused. Yes, the person on the other end of the computer-connected 'vid-chat' was none other than Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four. The face was different, being real instead of a comic book drawing, but the similarities were there, such as the two white streaks of hair on his upper temples and brilliant, focused eyes. Reed so looked like…well, himself.

"Yes? Oh right, my question…" The rather absent-minded – more like multi-tasking – brain of the leading scientist of the world slowed down. "I wanted to ask your permission to try gamma-radiation treatment of the starburst diamond."

"You waited ten minutes to ask me that?" the young woman scowled fakely. "Man, Reed, you can be such an air-brain at times; how function if your brain is M.I.A.?"

"Sorry, Miss Star, but I cannot help it if my focus is racing at the speed of light." Reed looked abashed, giving a puppy-dog pout. Even though she was a world removed from the Baxter Building in North America, the owner of the building continued to maintain contact with her almost constantly since S.H.I.E.L.D. stuck her in Tahiti seven months back.

"Very well, I forgive you." She smiled brightly. "The answer to your question: Are you blooming insane? Gamma-Radiation? I'm no tinkering-scientist like you, Reed, but I know my diamond well enough to say she'd eat any form of energy you beam her with. Why bother with Gamma juice?"

"But…" the genius on the other side of the digital receiver sputtered.

"I know you've had science-gasms non-stop since S.H.I.E.L.D. allowed you to study the starburst diamond, but pelting her with gamma rays just so she'd spill her secrets doesn't mean it'll work."

"But Miss Star…Stark told me it talks to him…" Reed, poor flustered Mister Fantastic, looked dejected.

"She…not it; She." Jiru corrected the man. "I know Stark talks to her, because he treated her like a woman, not a piece of hyper-condensed carbon."

"I'm not very good with woman, Miss Star." Reed sighed, his hands moving wildly about off-screen, doing whatever science was running through Reed's hindbrain.

XXXX

So, yea; that's me talking to the most famous super-human in several dimensions: Mister Fantastic, Reed Richards. I should try and start from the beginning so you know what I'm talking about.

My name is Jiru Star – at least that's my nom de guerre in this dimension. Yes, I'm not a native to this planet Earth, nor even to this infinitesimal slice of the cosmos. Given that, it's a wonder that I'm not under lock and key being poked and studied by such a rabidly curious scientific brain such as Reed Richards. Other genius-level scientists have tried to do the same, and where I have suffered some of them to expand their knowledge; that still doesn't excuse the fact that I hopelessly lost in the eddies of the cosmos.

Still confused? Yea, me too. But I'll try to clarify just who I am. I am from a dimension which aliens had already revealed themselves to Earth – I'll call that dimension D-13. Specifically, other species of life have made contact with Earthlings. The year that happened, was 2003, which may be really confusing to those who watch the cosmos. I myself am not a native to even D-13's Earth, but that is a story for another time. Let's just say, I was in the right place in the right time to help some of that Earth's heroes, who just happened to be very good friends of mine. My friends, already, were special people, young men and women who already – secretly – knew the earth wasn't alone in the universe; using their super-human skills to fight those who would spread pain, tyranny and evil over the planet. I joined them much later in their game, but it didn't matter, because evil never rests. I was there when the next terror of mortality struck and we…I…lost some dear friends. The aftermath of the city-wide – yes, citywide – battle had blown open our normally localized covers to the world. The all-out horrific millions-in-damage brawl had changed the earth forever. Science was reinvented that day for earth and the world knew it wasn't alone. We, me and my friends; had to mature far beyond our age and it was difficult – the death of friends from as close knit group as we was bound to have consequences, painful, heart-breaking effects.

It was the next round of evil that drove me into action; although nobody on earth knew how close the planet came to being erased by cosmic evil. The battle happened in another galaxy, one where our extraterrestrial friends – galactic guardians – were holding a cosmic-wide celebration pertaining to their heritage. You see, back in D-13, the universe is protected by star guardians who have abilities to tap into energies far beyond earthen comprehension; using personal energies to protect, guide and cultivate civilizations. My friends and I were just a few of them. But, like light casts shadow; everything good has an anathema; something looking to tear it down and break it apart. Story of the cosmos, right?

The battle – the war, trans-space-racial massacre – which took place that day shook the universe right down to the roots. After all, even elemental-wielding warrior alien races are all ants compared to a sentient star out for revenge, aren't they? So many guardians and warriors died that round, never to return to celebrate the joy of life and their history; the victory won by us, the Earth guardians, was so very costly. Of course, those far-flung fighters, races whom lived beyond known and charted space had been involuntarily used as pawns by evil lost many of themselves only to find the veil of evil lifted from their minds by our victory – found themselves is an awkward situation as if they were a long-lost cousin come home. New ties were formed and refreshed; new friends were made, but none of that eased the pain of the lost – the dead friends.

Returning to Earth after such a catastrophic massacre wasn't easy to live through; for me and my remaining friends. The center of my circle of friends had it the hardest; as her closest friend died protecting her. After a month or two of mourning, I decided to do something to fix the problem…which ended up going into outer space in a star-ship.

Taking my newer friends and leaving the old ones safely back on earth, I took to the stars in search of a way to reincarnate our lost friends. Nobody knew just what waited for anybody in the emptiness of space – and those who could see the future, thus knowing, could never talk about it. Again, evil decided to rear its ugliness in the form of galaxies-wide extinction, killing everything in its path and leaving nothing…NOTHING… behind. So of course, the good shall rise again and fight against such dastardly evil. My crew, which had grown in crew-size and friendship, was called upon to join the fight and kick-down the evil.

It was during a planet-land, a skirmish with one of the evils terrorizing the universe when I made my mistake. I, by far, was no militant genius; even with the help of many of my crew (those who had many millennia of experience more than I), and I should have known better than to evenly estimate my opponent. The evil I was facing down was a goblin of green skin and green wings, its name translating to Green Iron Wing. I got overconfident due to the power I held, a gift given by an ancient being of power: the Starburst Diamond. Like countless galactic guardians, I based my power from a talisman.

Thinking back on that moment with my team, one-hundred and fifty strong, I should have just broken a few cosmic rules and manipulated reality to out-right kill Green Iron Wing. One-hundred and fifty faces I will never see among the living again; Green Iron Wing overwhelmed us, and the clash of my energy against its tore open a rift in time/space, shattering the starburst diamond and sending me into the dimensional soup. I know my enemy still survives; call it a woman's intuition, bone-deep certainty, a hunch – but having been unhinged from my native dimension, I can't do anything until I find a way back.

Which brings the subject to my talisman: my Rhhendyey, the starburst diamond. A few cosmic entities took pity on me and infinitesimally nudged me on the right path, telling me that if I find all the shards of the broken starburst diamond, I will have grown mature/strong enough to find a way back home. So far, I've found thirty-six shards, and have no idea how many remain to be found.

It was difficult to maintain my sanity and personality being lost in the dimensional woo-woo ride, but I've kept it together so far. From demons, pharaohs, ninjas, anthros, talking animals, dragons, digital life-forms, wizards, gods; to elves and dwarves and hobbits, ninjas, aliens, shinigami, undercover human-protecting agents and normal humans; I've seen a great deal, but not everything. Like this dimension, for example, which I call D-200,000; the Avengers Dimension.

My being here has happened before, but due to a flux, I had to escape without claiming the diamond shard. As nobody can plot the future, I had since claimed three prior diamond shards before returning to this place. My friends and acquaintances here had quite the story to tell me after…after finding me in Nevada.

Apparently, I had landed on Earth one year ago; in the freezing cold – only to be rescued by Iron Man himself; a fan-girl's dream come true. Things spiraled into craziness as my Ex, Loki - YES Loki, the Norse God of Lies and Mischief – launched a personal vendetta against Earth, using an alien race to rage war on New York to claim the Tesseract for his own.

Loki – such a sore, undecided, painful subject to think about for now.

During the ruckus Loki stirred up, I – little ole' me – was inducted as an Avenger. Imagine the hordes of nerds and geeks who would KILL to experience that. Using my diamond fragment and a specialized suit of armor (Tony Stark totally was into me like no tomorrow - fangasm) I fought the rampaging Chitauri aliens and kept them from creating bloody mayhem on Manhattan.

I remember none of what they told me; only a burning nightmare which still plagues me. Nick Fury and the secret/not-so-secret anymore S.H.I.E.L.D. found me…well, it was Doctor Bruce Banner who found me in the remote Nevada cabin…boy was that a rushing experience of nerves and arousal. I made the HULK hulk-out…The HULK. THE HULK. Apparently, during my un-remembered time as an Avenger, I aroused a few libidos of a few super-heroes. Yea, freaky right?

So after S.H.I.E.L.D. found me, they interrogated me about Loki. I, myself, was confused as to why my erstwhile intimate companion had been missing for a week, leaving me alone with a newly inducted puppy in the middle of a cold winter-gripped cabin in the mountains - a cabin that wasn't ours to use, but a certain Doctor Bruce Robert Banner's. A few toes were stepped on in trying to figure out all that happened. S.H.I.E.L.D. stepped on mine more than a few, more than I did theirs. Long story short, Loki had given himself up to whatever punishment awaited him on Asgard; deciding to leave me behind and clueless. (Still have hard feelings for that.) Having found me after they had dealt with the war-mongering Loki, the Avengers were overwhelmingly glad to have me back; some obviously more than others. (Tony Stark still tries to get me in bed, although the offer is still very tempting giving what he did for me.)

So now, here I am, seven months from being found; sitting on a gorgeous and remote beach; spending my time with somebody very dear to me.


	2. Invite

_Invite:_

The day was just lovely, like the day before, and the week before; but the effect was starting to get slightly tiresome for him. Of course, as long as the woman of his heart still enjoyed the environment, far from it for him to bring up complaints. He was just blessed to be alive and have her living with him on an extended vacation on the beaches of Tahiti – compliments of S.H.I.E.L.D.

A growling rumble drifted up from his left, and happy yelp snapped up from his right; drawing his attention from the endlessly rolling waves to the two fluffy animals whose leashes he held. Two canines, white and fluffy as only lap-dogs can be, frolicked in the sand, jumping and snapping canine teeth at the rolling waves. Phil smiled lightly at the dogs' antics; giving a brief thought to their origins. Both young dogs, females, had been given to the young woman in his charge, Jiru Star, by the enemy: Loki. The first one, a Maltese breed, white with black spots and fluffy as a feather mop, was taken into custody after the alien attack on New York ten months ago.

Along with a recovered scientist, the young canine would have been lost in the red tape had he not claimed the poor thing himself. Phil named the young puppy Zoey, because she looked like a Zoey. The second dog, a West Highland Terrier, was with the young woman in Nevada; its name was Starbite, or Bitey. S.H.I.E.L.D. would have red-taped Bitey had not the female owner caused a big scene. It was just as well, Phil thought, that both of the special dogs remained under her ownership.

"Bitey, it's no use posturing the ocean waves, they'll just come back." Phil looked down at the rambunctious terrier. Bitey just looked back at Phil with her black eyes and wagged its upright tail.

"WOOOF!" Phil's other four-legged companion, Zoey, spun around and around due to her excitement of taking a beach walk.

"Ok, fine; have it your way." Phil dropped the leashes and chuckled as the pair raced down the beach towards home.

Watching the two dogs race off at the speed of joy; Phillip Andrew Coulson caught his hand reaching towards his chest; touching that wicked-ugly scar that was an unwanted mark of the alien invasion. Even after a year, it invoked the memories.

As Director Nick Fury's reigning right-hand man, Agent Coulson never backed down from the line of duty; and was right there on the lines when it cost him his life. What was life if the one woman he loved was captured by an insane megalomaniac god raging war on humanity? Coulson smiled a small smile as he thought back to the first time he met the unassuming young woman; in New York – sleeping on a couch in Stark Towers.

Miss Jiru Star wasn't a deadly femme fatale like the Natasha Romanov/Black Widow, nor was she a magazine beauty like Miss Virginia Potts; but Miss Star's personality shone through and her average, earthy/wood-sie beauty became his only preference. Of course, her cyan/turquoise hair only added to her grounded beauty, framing her face in color and complimenting her sharp eyes. It was later discovered that her extra-dimensional powers acted like an aphrodisiac/lure on certain men, giving her a siren-like attribute which aroused a few male lusts. Oddly enough, this only affected those males who she had feelings for, such as the billionaire Anthony Stark, Gamma-physicist Doctor Bruce Banner and Agent Clint Barton. But not for him; Coulson loved her for who she was and knew in his mind, that her siren-like lure couldn't affect his feelings.

Not that his emotions towards her were any less powerful or strong; indeed, Phil nearly drove himself to the point of second-death trying to track her down after Loki vanished with her after the Avengers defeated an invading alien army. Having barely recovered from a knife through his heart, Coulson drilled Fury to find out what had happened to the young woman.

Pursuing and exhausting all avenues of search, Coulson was about to give up when Loki himself showed up; only to be captured and teleported back to Asgard. So, the search began anew; turning out astounding results. S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't the one to find the dimensional walker – Bruce Banner did. Apparently, Loki hid himself and the young woman in the remotes of the Rocky Mountains, in Doctor Banner's hide-away cabin.

Since discovering the young woman having post-traumatic amnesia, her relationship with the doctor had been brittle; and like before her amnesia, she had bonded instantly with Anthony Stark, which had given her a cybernetic prosthesis when the billionaire learned of her missing left arm.

It had taken Coulson a month to extract the young woman out from Stark's greedy-iron grip and take her to Tahiti. But it had been worth it, having the young woman finally all to himself – except for the two wily, spoiled-absolute rotten dogs. Both of whom were now jumping and climbing all over the young woman on the lounge chair.

"Zoey, Bitey, down." Coulson commanded as he crossed the remaining sandy space to stand next to the young woman.

"Hi Phil. Bitey; Zoey." Her voice was full of laughter as the two dogs, young, wriggled and wagged their tails in pure happiness. If he had a tail, he'd wag it too.

"Good afternoon, Jiru." Phil smiled brightly and had the hardest time taking his eyes off her lower torso. After months of working on her modesty, he finally convinced her to wear bikinis. So now she was relaxed, sitting on the lounge chair nearly nude.

"Ah, eyes on mine, Phil. You naughty man." She joked, tilting her sunglasses

"Can't help it, I enjoy watching beautiful things." He commented back as he picked up Bitey. "I see you're talking to Reed Richards."

"Eh, I was, but he's off on his own thing now." The young woman reached over and clicked off the vid-chat.

"I see." Phil nodded and ducked under the umbrella which was stuck firmly into the sand. They both sat in the sun for a few quiet minutes, watching the two dogs chase each other around.

"So, what are we going to do today?" The cyan haired female turned to her companion and stretched.

"Well, there are two options; Option One is to stay here for another month…" the sandy-haired man began.

"And the second option?" She inquired.

"Go to Stark's Halloween party." Phil smiled after a moment of dramatic build-up.

"Say what?" She looked over to him, her eyes incredulous.

"Yes, Stark has invited you to his annual All Hallows Eve party." Phil removed the piece of mail he had taken the dogs to get and handed it to her. "Although he did forget to mention me…"

"Well, that's just rude of him, Phil. Now we'll have to go and kick his ass." Jiru looked at the invite and rolled her eyes. It was indeed just addressed to her; stating she was invited to Anthony Stark's shindig in California. "Phil, Stark's party is tomorrow. We'll never make it…"

"Do you want to go?" Phil asked her.

"Yes…but talk about out of the blue. How are we gonna make it…we don't have a chance…no costumes."

"Don't worry your pretty mind on details." Coulson chuckled as he stood up. "I have a jet on standby."

"What!?"

"As for costumes, I have the perfect thing in mind."

"Phil…talk to me here, what are you plotting?" Jiru cried out as her companion sauntered towards the cabana.

"You'll see."

"Oh great. This'll be barrels of fun." Jiru muttered to herself and slid out of the beach chair, calling to Zoey and Bitey as she followed Coulson; wondering just how…what the man was planning.

XXX

calling to Zoey and Bitey as she followed Coulson; wondering just how…what her man was planning.

_Stark Mansion, Malibu CA:_

Stark's house was spectacular; as in million-dollar mansion perfection. The place was situated on a small spike of land which jutted right out into the Pacific Ocean. The white mansion, all concrete and glass reflected the nearby city lights. It was difficult to get a visual on just what the place looked like, since the sun had set twenty minutes prior, but Jiru had her face pressed against the limousine's window anyway. It was a low-key excitement to be back on US soil again; after several months in exotic humid Tahiti. She still wasn't sure just HOW Phil managed it, but he had them both in California in less than seven hours. Of course, they had left most of their possessions back in the Tahiti cabana, but she figured Phil would pull strings and get S.H.I.E.L.D. lackeys to clean-up and bring the rest of their stuff back to the U.S. Zoey and Bitey weren't left behind; she'd never do that to her two best friends.

"Please try not to smudge your make-up, Jiru; I'd hate for you to ruin your costume." Phil's voice chided her gently as their limousine pulled up in front of Stark's internally lit mansion.

"Oh Phil, come on, don't be a downer. You did a great job painting my face! I can't wait to see the look on Stark's face when he sees what you dressed us up as."

"Of course, I had several great ideas, but found this to be the most entertaining." The benched S.H.I.E.L.D. agent nodded sagely as he moved around the end of the car to open her door.

"I thought you'd want to dress up as Captain America." She smiled mischievously, as she stepped out of the limo. "And I would be some red-white-blue spangled All-American Chick."

"Tempting, but no; this is far-more you." Phil grinned as he took in her yellow and black costume. "I find this get-up cuter."

"Pikachu!" Jiru chuckled.


End file.
